Certain embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an adapter used in connection with detecting the optical properties of a physical sample(s), such as, for example, blood samples or other physical specimens. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to an adapter for use with hand-held electronic devices, the adapter being configured to hold a sample(s) or a sample vessel containing the sample(s), so that the detector of the device may detect light, an image, and/or other data corresponding to an optical property of the sample.
Systems used to test the properties of samples often involve adding one or more reagents to the sample that may react and/or bind to the sample. The resulting reaction and/or binding of the reagents with/to the sample may then be indicated through the detection or measuring of one or more optical properties of the sample. Such optical properties may provide information that may be used to determine one or more properties of the sample, such as, for example, the presence of certain components, chemicals, or chemical structures in the sample, among other properties.
A variety of different types of detection devices may be used to detect optical properties of a sample(s). For example, the luminescence of a sample may be measured through the use of a luminometer. More specifically, a luminometer may measure the light emitted by, or through, the sample. The resulting level of detected light may provide an indication of one or more properties, or the contents, of the sample. Alternatively, the optical properties of a sample may be measured by a fluorometer, which may detect the wavelength of the light that is emitted by, from, and/or through a sample. Moreover, certain chemicals and chemical structures in a sample may be excited as they absorb light of one wavelength and will emit light at a different wavelength. The wavelength of the light emitted by the sample that is detected by the fluorometer may also provide an indication of the presence of a particular chemical(s) or chemical structure(s) in the sample.
The amount of light that a sample absorbs as light passes through the sample may also be measured in evaluating the properties of the sample. Such detection may involve the detector measuring the light that passes through the sample, which may then be used as an indication of the quantity of light that the sample absorbed. Such detection may, in at least some instances, also employ the use of one or more filters that filter out a particular or defined wavelength(s) of light that is sent to the sample and/or detected by the detector. Further, the wavelength selected for filtering may also depend on the type of light being filtered, such as whether the light is excitation light from a light source or emission light that is released from the sample. For example, a filter may be used for excitation light having wavelengths of 504 nm, while a filter for emission light may be used for wavelengths of 532 nm, among others. However, a wide range of filters for different wavelengths of light may be selected.
Additionally, the color of the sample may be detected or measured. More specifically, a sample may, or may not, undergo a change in color when the sample reacts with the reagent(s) or when the reagent(s) binds to the sample. Therefore, the color of the sample may also be used in determining the presence of a compound, chemical, or chemical structure in the sample.
In many of these applications, it is possible to perform more than one of the above-identified detections or measurements simultaneously using a single device, commonly referred to as multiplexing. Such multiplexing may require that the measuring equipment employ multiple filters that are either used simultaneously, or changed, for the different measurements.
Such detection or measurement equipment, however, is typically specialized in that the equipment generally has limited use outside of measuring optical properties of samples. Accordingly, unless there is an anticipated use for the equipment, the equipment is generally not in the possession of, or carried with, a technician. Accordingly, when a technician is away from a lab or facility where the equipment is often used and/or stored, the technician may not have access to the necessary equipment. Further, given the generally specialized and dedicated nature of such testing equipment, in some situations, ownership of the equipment is not worth its expense, which may then require that the samples be sent to a facility having the necessary measuring equipment, thereby delaying the speed at which desired information regarding the sample is obtained.
Unlike equipment traditionally used to measure the optical properties of samples, hand-held consumer electronic devices, such as, for example, smart phones and tablets, among others, are often carried by individuals both at and away from the work place. Such hand-held devices often include a wide array of functional components that are controlled by programmable microprocessors or computers to perform a number of different tasks using the device's existing operating system(s). For example, smart mobile telephones may include a camera and an associated program(s) that allow the telephone to read UPC barcodes. Additionally, such hand-held consumer electronic devices may include processor-based applications that allow for the determination of the location of the device through the use of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.
Hand-held electronic devices are also often connectable to a network to allow for the transfer and/or distribution of data collected and/or derived by, or through operation of, the device. Such networking capabilities often allow for data collected by the device to be transferred from the device to the network. This data transfer may be used for a variety of different purposes, including modifying information displayed, stored, or otherwise provided by the network and/or maintained and displayed by certain websites. In some applications, such data transfer from the device to the network may occur, for example, by a wireless connection between the device and the network or component thereof, by operably connecting the data port of the device to a data cable or docking station that is connected or linked to the network or otherwise downloading the data to a memory device that allows for the transfer of the data to the network among other forms of data transfer.